A Day Off
by petthekat
Summary: Nick and Judy get called into Bogo's office. The conversation that follows is a bit unexpected.
Author's Note: I had to do it. I had to write something. Loved the movie too much not to. Here, enjoy a drabble.

* * *

"Did we do something wrong?"

"Probably."

"I can't think of anything we did wrong. But we must've done something wrong, otherwise why would Chief want to see us?"

"Maybe he wants to congratulate us. We're pretty fantastic, you know."

The fox and the bunny stopped at the door to Chief Bogo's office. "Then again," went on Nick, "I pretty much just ride along and try not to make things worse. So if there's a medal involved, I'll make sure you get to wear it."

"You're a real hero, Nick Wilde," commended Judy with a grin, before she took a deep breath and opened the door. The two mammals entered Bogo's office and took seats in the overly large chairs in front of the equally oversized desk.

Chief Bogo observed them grimly, clearing his throat once at Nick, who then removed his shades with a huff and placed them on top of his head. "I've asked you both here today because something has been brought to my attention," he said after a long pause.

"Something… good?" asked Judy hopefully.

"No," he said flatly, looking between them. Strangely, he seemed a bit reluctant to speak, but at last, he went on in a somewhat distracted tone, "I've been told you two are in a … relationship."

A few heartbeats passed in silence.

"Well," said Judy slowly. "We are partners! That tends to, heh, have a little companionship element going on – "

"A _romantic_ relationship," interrupted the buffalo.

Nick leaned forward and pointed. "Only if you consider the _righteous_ distribution of justice to be romantic, sir." At the buffalo's glare, he fell back against the chair and continued dryly, "Who am I kidding, you probably do."

"Sir," Judy glanced worriedly at Nick. "I, uh – well, I don't know what you heard – "

"It isn't against the rules, Chief." Nick straightened in his chair and looked directly at Bogo. "I looked it up."

"Nick!" Judy's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed under her fur.

The fox shot her a quick apologetic look. "Hey, I know we agreed to keep it out of the workplace, but that was our decision. We're not actually breaking any regulations."

"It's not about the regulations," Bogo cut in. "It's about public image."

The two smaller mammals looked at him in surprise. Grunting in discomfort, the buffalo shuffled papers as he spoke, obviously in an effort to occupy himself. "After what happened with the mayor, you two are very much in the public eye. You are _supposed_ to be exemplary Zootopia citizens."

"What do you mean, sir?" asked Judy, brows scrunched in confusion. The buffalo's discomfort seemed to grow, and despite the fact that Nick knew damn well where he was going with this, he remained silent. Let the squirming bull explain it himself to wide-eyed Judy, whose grey-furred features were becoming increasingly concerned.

"What I mean is – the type of relationship you two have is – well, traditionally frowned upon. And there are those who don't wish to encourage such … a mixture among Zootopians."

Nick cut in. "Chief, I've lived in Zootopia my entire life, and I _know_ I've seen interspecies relationships before."

"Between a fox and a rabbit?" countered Bogo. "A predator and a prey?"

The fox in question clenched his jaw tightly.

Judy looked over at Nick and his rapidly darkening expression. "But – wait, no, I don't understand at all. Chief Bogo, are you really saying that a predator species and a prey species can't be together? After everything we went through to show the citizens here how unfair that kind of prejudice is?" She shook her head rapidly, flapping her ears. "No, that can't be true. Nick and I – We're like the faces of interspecies relations, the mayor even uses us to promote fairness and acceptance and – and – equality!"

"None of that matters to them, Judy," said Nick bitterly. "Promoting something like unity and loving your neighbor helps them out in the public sector, because it keeps the peace. But as soon as that progressive thinking starts to translate into something they _personally object_ to, that's when it becomes an issue again." He waved an arm emphatically. "Welcome to Zootopia – the land of forward thinking, so long as it looks exactly like you want it to and your beliefs are the only ones that matter."

"Romantic relationships move far beyond the acceptable parameters of interspecies relationships, particularly those involving prey and predator," Bogo went on. "How would you or anyone else explain that to small children?"

" _What children?"_ exclaimed Nick. He looked around the office. "I don't see any children!"

"Exactly!" snapped Bogo. "Interspecies relationships cannot produce children, and that is yet another reason why the higher-ups feel they should not be encouraged by two of the most highly visible mammals in Zootopia."

"Right, because Zootopia has such a population issue right now," deadpanned Nick.

"Look, Wilde," snarled Bogo, irritation leaking through his reluctance. "You and Hopps here can smile and wave and work together every single day, but that does not change the fact that you two are biologically, mentally and culturally different, from the day you were born."

"By all means, Chief," said Nick sardonically, "explain to us the fundamental differences between the penis and the vagina while you're at it, because in case you missed it, that's something else we don't share in common."

Judy put her face in her hands. "Nick, please."

"What he's saying is ridiculous, Judy!"

She looked up at Bogo, her eyes shining. "I don't understand, Chief. How can it be wrong to show how much we care about each other? What's wrong about any two mammals who love each other, no matter how different they actually are?"

Nick looked over at her, eyes wide, but he said nothing.

Chief Bogo looked away from her forlorn expression and simply hunched his enormous shoulders. "There's nothing I can do, Officer Hopps. Either you and Wilde discontinue your relationship or I will be forced to fire one of you."

"But Chief!"

"Fine," Nick fell back against his chair. "Fire me."

Judy looked over at him with a soft cry. "Nick, no!"

"Judy, this job means way more to you than it does to me. Let Bogo fire me, I don't give a damn."

"I don't have to fire either of you!" growled the buffalo. "Just agree to stop your relationship!"

"Judy," Nick turned sharply to her. "Do you want to break up?"

The bunny blinked, her eyes wide. "Nick…"

"I'm not saying I want to," he said more gently, gesturing to himself. "I'm asking if you want to."

Judy glanced at Bogo for a moment before immediately shaking her head. "No, Nick. Of course not."

"See," Nick ticked his head in Bogo's direction. "We don't want to break up. Fire me. I'm tired of paying taxes anyway."

Bogo snorted. "I – Well – Perhaps we can – "

Nick stood up in a flash. "I knew it! You don't want to follow through with your threat, you're just trying to get us to do what you want!" He lifted his head. "Or better yet, what the city council wants, right? Because I can honestly tell you'd rather be anywhere else in the world than here in this office right now, talking to us about our _romantic relationship."_

At Bogo's silence, Nick shook his head, his eyes narrowed. "Figures. They don't want us fired, Judy. And they don't want us to show that prey and predators are equals, either." He sighed and waved a dismissive hand at Bogo. "They want everyone to sing and dance and love each other, but only if it's the _right_ way. The kind that doesn't step on anyone's sensibilities and old fashion values."

At last, Nick held up both hands. "You know what, Bogo. I think I want to take the rest of the day off."

The buffalo grunted. "You need to fill out a request off form," he said, his words barely finished before Nick snatched a form off Bogo's desk, slapped it loudly on the wood, grabbed a pen and wrote 'N.W.' in large letters over the entire form. Then he slid it roughly in Bogo's direction and raised both brows.

"Well?" he asked mockingly.

Bogo glared at Nick for a long, hard moment before his features drooped with exhaustion and he simply waved him off. "Fine. Approved."

"Great," snapped Nick, snatching his sunglasses off his head and sliding them on before walking out of the office. Judy bit her lip and then slipped off her chair, edging to the tall desk so she could stand on her tiptoes. She reached forward for the form Nick had scrawled over and wrote with her carrot pen at the bottom, in careful, neat letters – JUDY HOPPS.

She slid it slowly back in Bogo's direction and waited.

"Approved," he muttered tonelessly.

"Thank you, sir," she whispered sincerely before hurrying out of the office.

Outside, in front of the ZPD's swinging doors, Nick stood with his shades obscuring his eyes and the rest of his visible features set in hard lines. Judy walked up quietly behind him without saying anything, but Nick knew she was there.

He exhaled loudly. "That was immature, I know," he said, shaking his head at the ground. "I couldn't help it."

Judy sighed and moved in front of him, one small grey reaching out to touch his. "I feel so foolish," she admitted softly. "I really thought – after everything we did, I don't know. That others would just feel like we did. That they'd see that… " she tilted her head, her ears falling to the side.

Nick stepped forward and brushed a hand over her fallen ears. "That two grown mammals are perfectly capable of making their own decisions and shouldn't have to deal with everyone else's thoughts on it?"

She twisted her lips in a grimace. "Yeah," she murmured.

"Yeah, well, we probably should've known prejudice wouldn't just disappear overnight," he admitted, dropping his hand and slipping it in his pocket. "Clawhauser even warned me a few days ago about this."

"Clawhauser?" she asked, frowning. "He said something bad?"

"He wasn't judging, he was just warning me," Nick said tiredly. "He said prey and predator relationships can be seen as… abusive. Like, controlling or unequal or even threatening."

"That's ridiculous!" Judy exclaimed, making a soft noise of distress. "You're not like that. Why would someone think that?"

"How would the people of your hometown have acted if you'd gone on a date with that Gideon guy, huh?" asked Nick, eyebrow raised. "Or if you went out with him even now? Your parents are friends with him, I know. But Chief Bogo was right about one thing. Friendships, that's something Zootopians can take. But love?" he shook his head and leaned heavily against a brick pillar. "It offends everything they think they know about themselves."

The pair fell silent for a moment. "Judy," Nick straightened from the pillar and reached out to touch her hand again. "I know I put you on the spot back there, and I should've let you say more… so if you – " he inhaled shortly, the effort of it catching painfully in his chest. " – if this is too much for you, being with me, I mean…" He trailed off, afraid to go on, because his voice was in danger of cracking at the thought. He managed to speak at last. "I can understand if being with me isn't worth dealing with all the crap the others are going to give you. All the hate, all the names. It's probably only going to get worse."

He closed his eyes behind his sunglasses. "You're younger than me, and you've never even really had a serious boyfriend. You shouldn't have to put up with this. So if it's too much for you… I – well, I understand."

Judy fell silent for a few moment of thought. Then she stepped a little closer to Nick.

"Maybe it would be too much," she said softly, "if I had to deal with it alone." Her whiskered cheeks lifted in a smile. "But I don't. I have you." As she spoke, she reached up and lifted his sunglasses, so she could meet his gaze. Nick's lips quirked.

"And I would consider myself lucky to deal with this every single day for the rest of our lives, so long as it meant I was with you." Nick's smile grew in earnest, and suddenly, Judy flushed furiously under her fur. "I mean," she stumbled on, "Not that I think we're going to get married or anything!"

"Mmhm."

"Because, I mean, I wasn't proposing that we – Oh, god, why did I use that word?" She slapped her hands to both cheeks. "I just meant – oh, just – why am I still talking?" she shrieked, before snapping her hands to her side and shoving her chin against her collarbone, horrified gaze on the ground. "Just ignore me."

Nick reached forward, tipping one finger under her chin and slowly lifting it until she was looking at him again, his old smile back in place, the one he reserved specifically for her.

"Never," he murmured, before leaning forward and kissing her.

The two parted tenderly and Judy relaxed, a breathless smile crossing her features. Nick remained close and brushed her jaw affectionately. "Well, would you look at that," he said quietly. "We kissed in public and society didn't collapse."

Judy glanced around subtly. "Nope," she agreed with a smile. "Looks perfectly intact to me."

They moved apart and took one another's hands, digits curling close. "Who knows," said Judy with a cheery laugh. "Maybe in ten years, relationships like ours won't even be a big deal anymore!"

"Maybe," muttered Nick, wrapping one arm around her securely. "And then this city can find something else to be stupid and judgmental about."

"You foxes are always so pessimistic," chimed Judy with a giggle. It fell away as she glanced back at the station. "What should we do about work?"

Nick tapped his shades back over his face. "We'll figure it out tomorrow," he said, leading her by the waist as they turned away from the building.

"Today's our day off."


End file.
